As the 2017-2018 ski season in Wyoming and Colorado quickly approaches, the University of Wyoming Outdoor Program is prepped and ready to help students and faculty find their inner winter athlete. On Jan. 28, 2018, the UW Outdoor Program will have the first of their two Cross Country skiing clinics, and the Outdoor Program will also be hosting various other ski and ski-related programs and ski trips for both UW students and UW faculty.
There are numerous ski and ski-related classes, clinics and trips for everyone to enjoy and learn from. Clinics on how to tune up your own snowboard and skis, avalanche information and safety courses, backcountry skiing trips and cross country skiing clinics for classic technique and skating technique.
These opportunities allow anyone who signs up to experience the winter season in a fun and safe manner.
“They [the Outdoor Program activities] are good for the people looking to get into winter activities here in Laramie, especially since we have such a long winter here,” Tylynn Smith, Outdoor Program veteran of four years, said. “Versus staying inside all winter, hating winter, you can kind of embrace it a little bit more, especially with the wonderful area we’re located in for skiing and cross country skiing and backcountry skiing. We’re so close to northern Colorado with awesome backcountry skiing. It’s just right over the border.”
There are also other benefits to registering for these winter clinics. Aside from being a more entertaining way to spend the winter months in Wyoming, students and faculty are able to engage with people with similar interests in activities.
“[The program] gives them [the participants] an opportunity to meet other people in the community who might want to go out and do these things, if people want to carpool together,” Cindy Dywan, interim coordinator of the Outdoor Program, said. “If you’re going backcountry skiing, you always want to go with other people, because if there’s an avalanche, someone has got to pull you out, right?”
The prices vary from activity to activity, for example, the cross country ski clinic on Jan. 28, is $29 for students and that includes equipment for every participant to use during the clinic. Normally, skiing equipment and ski passes can cost much more than the Outdoor Program’s costs for these experiences.
“That price sounds pretty good,” avid skier and UW student, Nico Hoven, said. “I mean, it is a day’s worth of skiing and it also covers whatever fee is needed to go places and what not, but it sounds like a pretty solid price.”
